The invention relates to an electric damper for damping the relative movement between first and second masses, having a generator driven by the mass movement and including a fixed stator and a rotor rotatable relative thereto, and a gear mechanism coupled to the generator.
Many areas of technology require a damping of relative movements between two components of a vibratory mechanical system. An example that is by no means limiting, involves vibration damping of a motor vehicle body in the area of the suspension of the body on the chassis. For this purpose, hydraulic dampers are predominantly used. However, they are not capable to recover or render useable energy drawn from the system during damping.
For that purpose, a proposal has been made to use so-called electric dampers which operate according to the principle of magnetic induction in order to convert the mechanical energy, drawn from the system by the mass movement, to electrical energy via a generator. As a result, the mechanical energy, drawn from the system by the mass movement, can be supplied for further use. Likewise, damping can be suited in a simple manner and over a wide adjustment range to the requirements of the vibratory mechanical system by controlling the generator. An electric damper of conventional construction is known for example from DE 101 15 858 A1.
Electric dampers known in the art have, however, a relatively complex structural design.